119. About Franz Hartmann

Franz Hartmann comes from Bavaria, studied medicine, undertook extensive travels through America, which introduced him to the customs and traditions, especially the so-called magical arts of primitive peoples. He then met H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, who from 1875 onwards tried to spread mystical and occult teachings by founding the Theosophical Society. He went to India with them and spent a long time there in the central place of the Theosophical Society. In addition to the “Theosophy” propagated by H. P. Blavatsky, H. was also interested in other mystical teachings of the Orient, especially [Shankaracharya], whose late Vedanta system he then propagated in several writings (partly translations, which he probably did not prepare according to the original texts) for Germans. He also published the Bhagavad-Gita in a German translation and tried to spread the underlying philosophical system. After his return to Germany, he met a primitive German mystic (a former craftsman) in whom he saw a follower of the Rosicrucian teachings and insights. By combining what he had learned from the teachings of this mystic with the teachings of Blavatsky, H. then developed the views that he sought to imbue with the results of his Paracelsus studies and which he presented in numerous writings in a popular, down-to-earth tone. The most important of these are his “Black and White Magic” and “Occult Signs and Symbols”. He also published a magazine called “Lotus Flowers”, in which he presented his views. H. died in 1911 (August?) –